Dive Brief:
- The Maryland Energy Administration is offering more than $100 million in grants to building owners to encourage building decarbonization through energy efficiency upgrades, electrification and renewable energy development and storage, it announced last week.
- Eligible projects include installing electric appliances such as heat pumps and water heaters or upgrading them from fossil fuel-powered or less-efficient electric equipment, as well as building controls and automation, insulation and sealing, and new windows and doors in conjunction with such projects. Nonprofits also can get funding for installing renewable technologies, pre-implementation costs and participating in community resilience projects, including microgrids.
- Maryland is one of four states mandating building performance standards, with covered buildings required to reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The grant program targets builds covered by these standards as well as nonprofits, government buildings and local education agencies.
Dive Insight:
Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act, SB 528, requires commercial and state-owned properties 35,000 square feet and larger to file annual energy use benchmarking data and to achieve a 20% reduction in net direct greenhouse gas emissions, compared with 2025 levels for average buildings of similar construction, on or before Jan. 1, 2030. Covered buildings must also achieve net-zero direct GHG emissions on or before 2040. Failure to meet the standards can result in a compliance fee, starting at $230 for every metric ton of net direct CO2 emissions in excess of the standard in a given calendar year.
Montgomery County, the state’s largest county by population, has its own building performance standard. It requires most commercial, multifamily and municipal buildings 25,000 square feet and larger to submit benchmarking data and meet standard energy use intensity limits and data verification requirements every three years.
The grant program targets buildings that must comply with those two standards, encompassing commercial buildings owned by for-profit and nonprofit organizations, county and municipal governments, local education agencies and the Maryland School for the Blind. The application deadline is Dec. 9.
The $103 million in assistance the state is offering through the Commercial Buildings Grant Program is being made available through five tracks. Private commercial buildings are eligible for $48 million; local government buildings, f $18 million; and local education agencies, $33 million, according to the program website. An additional $400,000 is available for mechanical insulation and $4.5 million for community resilience projects.
Grant funds will be allocated based on the proposed project’s lifetime emissions reduction as determined by project type, according to a program document.
For example, electrification projects in commercial buildings are eligible to receive $300 for every 200 to 2,499 metric tons of carbon dioxide it reduces, while projects that reduce over 5,000 metric tons of emissions over their lifetime would receive $500 per metric ton. Both electrification and energy efficiency measures for commercial buildings have a minimum grant amount of $50,000 and a maximum of $2 million, with the grant paying for up to 65% of the total project.
Commercial building projects covered by either the state or Montgomery County performance standards are also eligible for an additional $50 per lifetime metric ton of emissions reduced, or $50 per kilowatt, based on project type. Certain local education agency projects are eligible for a similar boost.
Nonprofits, local government buildings and local education agencies have other assistance opportunities available to them, with certain conditions attached.
